It’s never about the weight. It’s always about the way we carry it.
It’s never about the work. It’s always about the ‘why’ of the work.
It’s never about the grand sights. It’s always about the story behind the sight
It’s never about grand things. It’s about discovering grand meaning in simple joys.
That’s where real happiness and real joy is. Ensconced and precious. To find it means to see it and let it be.
(at Pattaya, Thailand)
To splash around is great fun. To splash around doesn’t get you a great distance. But its good fun nevertheless.
There are those for whom life is a series of splashes. And there are the others who cover a long distance with minimal splash.
A stroke here. A stroke there. A dive now. A glide underwater. A few bubbles that show progress. And then the head shows up on the other side of the pool.
The little miss isn’t interested. She wants to splash.
There is a time and place for everything. A time to splash. And another to swim. In a kids world, the fun is in the splash.
Yes, in a kid’s world.
(at Bangkok, Thailand)
The little miss and her imagination gives me new flight.
She plants her legs on the airplane window and states with great excitement “Papa my legs are touching the sky”. Her smile and shriek of joy lights up the plane. Or at least parts close to where we are seated.
I wonder how many of you will lay claim to the big blue sky. If you ever do so, remember there is a young lady who planted her feet up there first 🙂
He is a slender man. All bone and muscle. A pronounced jaw, a tanned skin and a stubble for the head. But he packs a punch with his smile. A smile that gives his broken uneven teeth even more mileage.
He helps us with the water scooter on the beaches of Pattaya. He negotiates the waves and the machine with an alacrity that would expose his experience.
The waves seem to be no match for him. The water scooter seems to do to his bidding. He keeps waving at us from the shore. He asks us to take more time in the sea. ‘Have fun. You have time’. He says.
As one more wave rushes to the shore and the scooter bobs up and down in a helpless rush, he settles on the the shore. ‘You had fun?’, he asks.
When we nod in enthusiastic affirmation, he puts on display his uneven tooth and the big gap in between them. ‘Enjoy it while you have the time’, he says.
He perhaps doesn’t know how profound his statement is. Perhaps he does. There is wisdom in the ordinary man beyond what we give credit for. In their leading of life
(at Pattaya, Thailand)
As a talented pair of hands whipped up a new flavour at the roadside cocktail bar my eyes wandered to the camper van with bright lights that served as the base.
Now, the Volkswagen Camper van stands for something beyond an automobile. First introduced in 1950 it went out of production in 2013! Having had spectacular reincarnations and simple, astute deployments.
It morphed from a carrier of people to transporter of parcels. From tourist support to ambulance. From everything commonly possible to everything conceivable.
To age as gracefully as the Volkswagen Camper requires staying relevant to changing times and needs. That means disrupting oneself constantly. On a daily basis.
To look beyond what we see and to constantly redraw the finish line.
It isn’t easy. But it’s possible. Just ask the VW Camper.
(at Pattaya, Thailand)
If you seek to grow, watch your children. In their curiosity, in their seeking, in their sense of play they teach us so much.
In seeing them at happy effortless play with kids with different skin colours, I learn that it is human to reach out and relate.
It is when I see them jump with joy at the sight of everyday occurrences (‘Yeahhhah, the Sun is back") needles me in the direction of wonder and joy.
And when they discard their shoes to walk barefeet, I learn the joys of feeling the earth. It teaches me a thing or two about staying grounded.
Watch kids. They can teach you a heap.
Try.
(at Pattaya, Thailand)
They come in all shapes and sizes. Boxes.
Some going far. Some just next door. They all sit shoulder to shoulder as the postmen gather and sort them at a train station. Perhaps with little idea of what’s in them.
The boxes themselves sit pretty. They have their own story to tell. A former Indian Prime Minister wrote a poem titles “Envelope” which went something like this
“The letter inside is yours
The address on the cover is his
Between the two of you
I get ripped open”
What’s inside us is far precious. When we keep ripping ourselves apart and let newer versions of us emerge, the address on the boxes keeps changing.
We see many new lands. We go places, as they say.
Rip yourself apart. Let the new you emerge from the boxes!
(at Jamshedpur, Jharkhand)
Heights. There is something about heights that fascinates. And teaches.
From up in the sky, the mighty river against the massive Sun is but a thread under a bulb. The massive cliff, a half eaten cookie. Giant houses morph into tiny squares.
Boundaries don’t exist! The map is not the territory. There is no end to the sky and Earth doesnt ‘start’ anywhere. They just merge. Everything is one!
Perhaps that is a good perspective to have as we grapple with our lives and work. To view everything as just a part of a large ‘oneness’. To view ourselves too. As connected beings.
Suddenly everything becomes easy. Kindness. Love. Compassion. Brotherhood. Affection. It is a a lovely emotion to hold tight to.
Take to the skies. Perhaps, in your mind. Go on. Close your eyes.
Fly.
Where you stand depends on where you sit. So said Nelson Mandela. Prescient man.
What happens if you sit close on the edge? With water flowing by? Or the vast expanse of the mountains staring at you?
Perhaps in a green park with mowed lawns and manicured pathways. Or in the rough tumble of a unruly grass in a forest.
Or do you sit in a glass cabin lording over people? Or are you part of the ‘people’ sitting amongst them. Standing up to plough the land sow the seeds.
Where we sit often is a function of a where a good bench is. Perhaps its a good idea to go with where a good view beckons and get a bench done.
That way, when you stand you get to work on stuff that you are passionate about.
After all you will be standing on it.
The good part of staying in a tent is the seeming ease of sky. The sky is invisible and yet just out there. If you need to get a view of the stars you just have to ‘roll out’. As we stayed in the tent in the mountains it was clear, what mattered most was where we pitched our tent.
As our journeys roll on, we pitch our tents at different places. New places. Under the same blue sky.
The sky after all is our big blue tent!